PRINCETON– A Mercer County arthritis sufferer is suing her employer on claims of disability discrimination in the loss of her job in 2014, when the company allegedly fired her in lieu of providing reasonable accommodations in her work duties.
Vickie Lynn Dillon filed a lawsuit against Custom Manufacturing Services Inc. of Princeton in Mercer Circuit Court on Sept. 21, asserting discrimination in the summer of 2014.
The suit states that Dillon, who was hired to work in the defendant’s shipping department in 2012, was laid off with several other employees in 2013. When called back to work, she allegedly informed the company of her disability, but was transferred to another area despite being assured she would be placed in a position which did not aggravate her condition.
According to the complaint, non-disabled employees continued to perform the tasks for which Dillon had asked to be assigned. The plaintiff contends that she continued to perform the job assigned to her, but also continued to request accommodation so that work would not inflict pain.
The lawsuit states that Dillon was terminated about eight months after returning to work, on the pretext that the employer feared that she “would hurt herself.”
Asserting that she was in no danger and that she had repeatedly asked for accommodations in the form of reassignment to her original position, the plaintiff charges Custom Manufacturing with disability discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, failure to engage in an interactive process, and willful and malicious conduct.
Claiming lost pay, physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life, Dillon seeks compensatory and punitive damages for back pay and benefits, reinstatement or front pay, interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs.
Dillon is represented by Stephen Farmer and Matthew Nelson of Farmer, Cline & Campbell in Morgantown. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Derek C. Swope.
Mercer Circuit Court case number 15-C-334-DS